English

The complex Goldberg-Sachs theorem in higher dimensions

Differential Geometry 2012-03-13 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Theory Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

We study the geometric properties of holomorphic distributions of totally null mm-planes on a (2m+ϵ)(2m+\epsilon)-dimensional complex Riemannian manifold (M,g)(\mathcal{M}, \bm{g}), where ϵ0,1\epsilon \in {0,1} and m2m \geq 2. In particular, given such a distribution N\mathcal{N}, say, we obtain algebraic conditions on the Weyl tensor and the Cotton-York tensor which guarrantee the integrability of N\mathcal{N}, and in odd dimensions, of its orthogonal complement. These results generalise the Petrov classification of the (anti-)self-dual part of the complex Weyl tensor, and the complex Goldberg-Sachs theorem from four to higher dimensions. Higher-dimensional analogues of the Petrov type D condition are defined, and we show that these lead to the integrability of up to 2m2^m holomorphic distributions of totally null mm-planes. Finally, we adapt these findings to the category of real smooth pseudo-Riemannian manifolds, commenting notably on the applications to Hermitian geometry and Robinson (or optical) geometry.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1107.2283,
  title  = {The complex Goldberg-Sachs theorem in higher dimensions},
  author = {Arman Taghavi-Chabert},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1107.2283},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

Section 2 partly rewritten: issue regarding self-duality clarified. Section 5.2 clarified. Some remarks added. Lemma 3.7 (previously 3.7) corrected. A few mathematical and notational inaccuracies corrected, and typos and sign mistakes fixed throughout. Some references added

R2 v1 2026-06-21T18:35:33.071Z